Softball Headline

Wednesday March 8, 2006Softball Loses Series Finale to Alabama

The Florida softball team (17-9, 0-3 SEC) lost its final game
in the series with No. 5 Alabama (18-3, 3-0 SEC), 1-0, in Tuscaloosa Wednesday.

“I thought
opening up with a very good Alabama club gives us an indication of how far we
still have to go to be at the top half of the SEC,” head coach Tim Walton said.
“They are a really good ball club and play with a high level of confidence.”

Alabama scored the first run of the game in
the bottom of the third. Brittany Rogers knocked a base hit up the middle and
advanced to second on a Jordan Praytor sacrifice
bunt. Rogers
scored on a Staci Ramsey base hit to right for the
1-0 Tide lead.

Senior
Lindsey Cameron (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) hit a double to left center in the fourth for Florida’s only hit of
the game. Cameron also got on base in the sixth on a dropped third strike. Senior
Stacie Pestrak (Gainesville,
Fla.) came in to pinch run for
her and stole second. Florida also got a
runner on in the fifth as senior designated player Mirelis
Torres (Tampa, Fla.) drew a walk.

Alabama’s Stephanie VanBrakle
struck out 15 in the win to improve her record to 10-1 on the year. Freshman
Stacey Nelson (Los Alamitos,
Calif.) scattered seven Alabama hits in the loss to move her record
to 6-3.

Florida will have a bye in Southeastern Conference play this
weekend, but will travel to DeLand, Fla.
for the Stetson Tournament. The Gators will face IowaState
at 10 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday, Stetson at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday and Canisius at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday. All the games will be
broadcast live on GatorZone.com via yahoo.com.